VALHALLA, N.Y. -- For more than a century, Westchester Medical Center, the flagship of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network, has been vital to the Hudson Valley region. Founded as an army hospital in 1917 to care for the victims of the global influenza epidemic, WMC has been meeting the health needs of the Hudson Valley ever since. As they celebrate 100 Years of Advanced Care in 2017, the hospital is stepping back a century in American history and taking a look at our country’s defining moments during its inaugural year.

As the Pittsburgh Penguins and their fans celebrated the team's repeat as Stanley Cup champions this past spring, they were the latest in a long line of American-based teams to spend the summer with Lord Stanley. In fact, no Canadian team has won a Stanley Cup since 1993. However, American hockey dominance is fairly recent.

Although the Stanley Cup is now synonymous with success in the National Hockey League, prior to the league's foundation, the cup was awarded to the winner of a much more loosely organized inter-league competition. Leagues such as the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and National Hockey Association fielded more than a dozen teams, and duked it out to determine the Stanley Cup's winner.

Unlike today, the Stanley Cup's early years were marked by Canadian dominance; teams from Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto took home the trophy year after year. American teams in smaller cities like Portland, Spokane and Seattle were newer, and experienced only marginal success. That changed in 1917.

In the 1917 Stanley Cup, the newly-formed Seattle Metropolitans shocked the defending champions, the Montreal Canadiens, beating them three games to one, becoming the first American team to win the cup. Although the trophy would return to Canada for several seasons afterwards, American teams had proven they were every bit as talented as their Canadian counterparts. Both North American leagues were eventually absorbed into the current NHL, which began operations in 1917, but several of these original teams are still in operation today.

At Westchester Medical Center, doctors and staff have been treating injuries for nearly as long as the Stanley Cup has been in existence. The all-star team of specialists ensures that every patient they see is happy and healthy on and off the field.

Westchester Medical Center, the flagship of the WMCHealth Network, is celebrating 100 years of Advancing Care. Here.